To Leslie

Leslie is a troubled and manipulative alcoholic from West Texas who won $190,000 in a local lottery, only to squander the winnings on liquor and drugs. Six years later, Leslie is destitute, living a peripatetic life in motels and on the streets. After being kicked out of a residential motel, she reunites with her estranged 19-year-old son James, who allows her to live with him under the provision that she not drink. Leslie soon steals money from James's roommate Darren, and James discovers liquor bottles under her bed, leading him to call his grandmother and Leslie's friend Nancy for help.

Nancy and her boyfriend Dutch reluctantly allow Leslie to stay with them, but lock her out in the middle of the night when she visits the local bar and is spotted by Pete, one of their friends. Leslie sleeps outside next to a motel, where she is found at dawn by Sweeney, one of the proprietors. He orders her to leave, and she flees, leaving her suitcase behind. She is met outside a convenience store that night by Pete, who buys her food, but Leslie again flees when he attempts to make sexual advances toward her.

Leslie returns to the motel in search of her suitcase, and Sweeney pretends to confuse her for somebody who had called for a job, and offers her the opportunity of cleaning rooms in exchange for a small wage and boarding. Royal, who owns and helps run the motel with Sweeney, is cold toward Leslie, whom he has known since childhood. Leslie is frequently unpunctual to her duties, and she continues to spend her earnings on alcohol, often going to bars. Late one night, Leslie drunkenly wanders to the home where she raised James, startling the family who now lives there. The homeowners phone Sweeney, who returns Leslie to the roadhouse.

Disappointed by Leslie's lack of commitment, Sweeney intends to fire her, but he relents when she assures him she intends to change her ways. With nowhere left to turn, Leslie attempts to focus on her job and maintain sobriety as she suffers through alcohol withdrawal. Leslie and Sweeney develop a friendship, bonding over their mutual history of addiction. Leslie accompanies Sweeney to a fair, where she meets his daughter and granddaughter. Leslie gets into a confrontation with Nancy at the fair, who lambasts her in front of Sweeney for having abandoned James when he was a child.

Later that day, she argues with Sweeney after he insists on watching a VHS tape containing the TV news piece on her lottery win. On the tape, the teenage James mentions that Leslie has always wanted to open a diner and the younger Leslie, clearly drunk, scoffs. She quits her job at the motel. She phones James from a laundromat, leaving a message telling him she loves him. She then visits her usual bar, where she is hit on by a handsome but roguish younger man. She orders a beer and a shot, but decides not to drink either. Meanwhile, Sweeney searches for Leslie and arrives at the bar, but she has left. He punches and tussles with Pete after he and Nancy insult Leslie. Leslie squats in an abandoned ice cream shop across the street from the motel and watches as Sweeney returns. In the morning, she awakens Sweeney and tells him she wants to renovate the ice cream shop and open a diner. He reluctantly agrees to help and they kiss for the first time.

Ten months later, Leslie is sober, and with Sweeney and Royal's help, she has fixed up the building and turned it into a diner. On opening day, Leslie receives no customers. Nancy arrives that evening at closing time, and Leslie accuses her of sabotaging the business's opening by telling the locals not to go. Instead of responding with rage, Nancy apologizes to Leslie for not being emotionally present throughout Leslie's life, while also stating that she won't ever forgive Leslie for abandoning her son due to her addiction. Nancy also surprises Leslie by revealing she has brought James with her. Royal and Sweeney prepare a meal for them, and the two embrace.

In July 2019, it was announced Andrea Riseborough had joined the cast of the film, with Michael Morris directing from a screenplay by Ryan Binaco.[5] In June 2020, Allison Janney and John Hawkes joined the cast of the film.[6] In December 2020, Marc Maron and Stephen Root joined the cast of the film, with Maron replacing Hawkes.[7] The film was shot in Los Angeles over the course of 19 days during the COVID-19 pandemic, on a budget of less than $1 million.[2][8] Music supervisor Linda Perry wrote the original song "Angels Are Falling", which is performed by Patty Griffin, for the film.[9]

The film had its world premiere at South by Southwest on March 12, 2022.[10] In September 2022, Momentum Pictures acquired distribution rights to the film, giving it a limited theatrical and on-demand streaming release on October 7, 2022.[11] Following the announcement of Riseborough's Oscar nomination, the film was re-released to six theaters, making an estimated $2,500 to $5,000 over the January 27–29 weekend.[12] The movie was picked up by Netflix in the United States for streaming on June 1, 2023.[13]

• To Leslie at IMDb 
• To Leslie at Rotten Tomatoes
• To Leslie at Metacritic